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Health and Human Development

Deafness and Hearing Studies Minor

University Park, College of Health and Human Development (DHS)

Contact: Gordon W. Blood, f2x@psu.edu

This interdisciplinary minor is designed for students who want to learn about individuals with hearing disabilities, audition, and deafness within an individual and societal context. Core courses include knowledge and skills in preventing hearing loss, basic communication skills and disabilities, history, thought and culture of individuals who are deaf, and principles of human behavior and their applications. The minor will assist students in recognizing relationships among hearing disability, deafness, cultural differences and their impact on the individual in educational, social and vocational settings. Specializations include, but are not limited to, health-related fields, communications, societal and social life, cultural impact, educational experiences, prejudice and discrimination, and rehabilitation. Students will be able to place deaf culture and hearing disabilities in the proper perspective necessary for life-long learners engaged in fostering climates which embrace individuals from diverse backgrounds, especially disabilities.

The minor is most appropriate for students interested in clinical and health-related fields (e.g., nursing, biobehavioral health, or medicine), professional fields (e.g., business, pre-law, or communications), social sciences (e.g., human development and family studies, sociology, or psychology), and education (e.g., early childhood education, special education, rehabilitation counseling), as it will provide students with exposure to the range of variation in persons with hearing disabilities and deafness across the lifespan.

Students from any major (except Communication Sciences and Disorders) can declare a minor in Deafness and Hearing Studies. A grade of C or better is required for all courses in the minor. Students seeking advising for this minor should contact the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.

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